Philly’s foster-care discrimination case goes to federal appeals court

Philadelphia's Department of Human Services was back in court Tuesday, defending its refusal to contract with a Catholic foster-care agency that won't work with LGBTQ parents. The city has said Catholic Social Services is in violation of its fair-practices ordinance, which prohibits city contractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation.

A federal judge in July ruled in favor of the city, denying the provider's petition for its contract to be reinstated. Catholic Social Services argued that by its being sidelined, children in need of homes have been put at risk, and that forcing the agency to work with same-sex couples violated its religious freedom.

More >> Philly’s foster-care discrimination case goes to federal appeals court

Daniel L. Hatcher: Scott Walker confiscates millions from disabled and orphaned foster children

A Charles Dickens novel has come to life. Gov. Scott Walker’s administration has been partnering with a private company to search for foster children who are disabled or have dead birth parents — in order to take their money for state revenue. The state is even confiscating veterans’ benefits from foster children whose parents died in the military.

Contract documents obtained by public records request explain the practice. A 2011 contract signed with MAXIMUS Inc. shows that Wisconsin has collaborated with the company to maximize revenue obtained from foster children. In part of the contract focused on Milwaukee County, MAXIMUS has helped the state increase the number of children classified as disabled and to locate children with deceased birth parents — not to provide more services to the children, but so the state can take their resources.

More >> Daniel L. Hatcher: Scott Walker confiscates millions from disabled and orphaned foster children

Mother Teresa nuns back in India's adoption system

The Missionaries of Charity (MC) congregation has agreed to resume its service of giving children for adoption.

The congregation founded by St. Teresa of Kolkata, commonly known as Mother Teresa, discontinued giving babies from their orphanages for adoption in October 2015 after disagreeing with a new federal law that allowed single and divorced woman to adopt children.

More >> Mother Teresa nuns back in India's adoption system

Kansas Shops For Second Opinion On Welfare Reform's Impact On Foster Care Load

A University of Kansas study linked tighter welfare rules to a growing foster care load.

The state agency overseeing those programs backed those same new rules. Now, it’s hired a research team to question the findings of the KU study.

More >> Kansas Shops For Second Opinion On Welfare Reform's Impact On Foster Care Load

Riverside County will pay more than $11 million to settle claims against social services

Riverside County is set to pay nearly $11.4 million to settle two lawsuits that accused the county’s social services department of failing to protect a girl who became pregnant by her mother’s boyfriend and a toddler found holding her infant sibling’s mummified corpse.

The rape case involving “Jacquelyn H.,” who is now 15, will be settled for $10 million, Torrance-based attorney Roger Booth said Wednesday, Oct. 24.

More >> Riverside County will pay more than $11 million to settle claims against social services

In Denver child welfare cases, the father isn’t “John Doe” anymore

John Doe is not the father, at least not anymore.

An untold number of kids caught up in Denver’s child welfare system have had a father named John Doe, a practice that went on for decades and made it less likely for children to find permanent homes. When the dad is unknown, so is an entire side of the family that might otherwise step up to care for an abused child.

More >> In Denver child welfare cases, the father isn’t “John Doe” anymore

Illinois DCFS Agrees to Outside Inquiry at Psychiatric Hospital Where Children Have Reported Abuse

Under mounting pressure, the state child welfare agency agreed to a broad investigation, but the American Civil Liberties Union and other advocates said they will remain vigilant.

More >> Illinois DCFS Agrees to Outside Inquiry at Psychiatric Hospital Where Children Have Reported Abuse

'Dawnland' Documents Maine's Efforts To Reconcile Indian Child Removal

In 2012, the state of Maine began an effort to address a disturbing part of its history and present: the systematic removal of Indigenous children from their families and tribal communities through boarding schools and the foster care system. The documentary "Dawnland" follows the work of the Maine Wabanaki-State Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

More >> 'Dawnland' Documents Maine's Efforts To Reconcile Indian Child Removal

• Wabanaki Seek Healing and Justice in 'Dawnland'

Adoption and children's rights advocates are rejecting the notion that advances in in-vitro fertilization have caused the collapse of adoption, as is being claimed.

The Telegraph reported Friday that amid figures showing that IVF success rates have risen from approximately 7 percent to around 30 percent, adoption is now competing against reproductive technologies, according to Anthony Douglas, chief executive of the Child and Family Court Advisory and Support Service. Some private clinics reportedly claim success rates of over 50 percent.


More >> Adoption Rates Not Collapsing Because of Greater IVF Success, Contrary to Claims, Advocates Say

Investigation finds government contractor violated policy while transporting immigrant children

When migrant children were separated from their parents this summer, a defense contractor hired by the federal government helped carry out the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy by transporting some to facilities. Special correspondent Aura Bogado from The Center for Investigative Reporting's Reveal team offers a look at one family’s experience and possible policy violations.

More >> Investigation finds government contractor violated policy while transporting immigrant children

Children in foster care at educational disadvantage: QUT study

Many of the 48,000 Australian children in foster care may struggle to reach national literacy and numeracy benchmarks, could be at higher risk than their peers of becoming disengaged with schooling, being suspended or expelled, and may struggle long-term with social and economic disadvantage, a QUT study has revealed.

More >> Children in foster care at educational disadvantage: QUT study

American Horror Story: U.S. Parents Separated from Children by Abusive Government Agencies

As the caravan of people marching toward America approaches, filled with children who will soon be “separated from their parents” for processing, get ready for a press assault with pictures of crying children and anguished reporting on the cruelty of it all. Yet, American parents grieve silently the loss of their children to out-of-control or inept child protective government agencies every single day. As I reported a few months ago, Michael Chambers, though cleared of any wrongdoing by a judge, is still without his daughter. Tens of thousands of American parents are in the same situation, but while the network news media trip over themselves to find stories of separation and trauma of Honduran children whose parents break our immigration laws, they are completely silent in the face of these American stories.

More >> American Horror Story: U.S. Parents Separated from Children by Abusive Government Agencies

Why desperate Chinese mother offered her triplets for adoption on social media site

A mother of triplets in eastern China offered her sons for adoption on a live-streaming social media platform after her gambling debt-laden husband abandoned her when the children were barely four weeks old.

Her husband, surnamed Zhao, returned after the incident was covered by local media, Zhejiang-based news site Thehour.cn reported on Monday. The mother’s account on the social media site TikTok was deleted, but screenshots of her posts offering the babies are still in circulation.


More >> Why desperate Chinese mother offered her triplets for adoption on social media site

DCFS to stop sending kids to Chicago psychiatric hospital

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has temporarily stopped placing foster children in a Chicago psychiatric hospital where allegations of abuse have arisen.

A Chicago Tribune investigation uncovered several problems at Chicago Lakeshore Hospital. They include 16 complaints of patient abuse and neglect. Federal regulators also have threatened to cut off hospital funding if potential safety issues aren’t fixed by Nov. 30.

More >> DCFS to stop sending kids to Chicago psychiatric hospital

Australia’s Family Law Courts Are Crippling Families

Family law proceedings are crippling families financially and breaking them emotionally as overburdened systems struggle to cope with a rising backlog of cases, a new book has revealed.

Simone was five-years-old when her parents separated.

More >> Australia’s Family Law Courts Are Crippling Families

WHITE HOUSE: Trump Proclamation On Termination Of Parental Rights In Human Trafficking Through Denationalization Of Birthright Citizenship For National Adoption Month

Some Beverly Tran for you to chew on.

WHITE HOUSE: Trump Proclamation On Termination Of Parental Rights In Human Trafficking Through Denationalization Of Birthright Citizenship For National Adoption Month

MOTHER'S CHOICE Heartbreaking moment mum loses custody of son, 13, with leukaemia after she tried to stop him having chemotherapy

A heartbroken mum was ordered to hand over custody of her son to child protection services after she tried to stop him from undergoing chemotherapy.

More >> MOTHER'S CHOICE Heartbreaking moment mum loses custody of son, 13, with leukaemia after she tried to stop him having chemotherapy

Note: I would think that the kid needs his mom.

Fear of judgment, CPS prevents some addicted pregnant women from being honest

Along with St. James Healthcare in Butte, Missoula’s Community Medical Center recently received grant money to improve access to quality care for pregnant mothers and their babies.

While the new Montana Healthcare Foundation-funded programs developing across the state rely on standardized, prenatal screening for substance abuse, societal stigma and the fear of Child and Family Services may deter some pregnant women from being honest about their struggles with drug use.

More >> Fear of judgment, CPS prevents some addicted pregnant women from being honest

Immigrant children still being drugged at shelter despite judge’s order, lawyers say

The government is violating a federal judge’s order to stop medicating immigrant children held at a troubled Texas shelter without proper consent and to move the children to other housing, attorneys for the children allege in new court filings.

U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee ordered July 30 that immigrant children held at Shiloh Treatment Center could no longer be medicated with psychiatric drugs without the consent of a parent or court authorization and that any children not deemed a danger to themselves or others be moved to less restrictive housing. Gee also found the children should be allowed access to private phone calls.

More >> Immigrant children still being drugged at shelter despite judge’s order, lawyers say

England adoption rates falling as IVF improves, says senior official

A drop in the rate of children being adopted is partly caused by improvements in IVF, the head of the public body representing children in care has said.

The success rates for fertility treatment are now nearly three in 10 (29%) for women under 35, almost three times higher than when the process was first developed in 1978.

More >> England adoption rates falling as IVF improves, says senior official

Illinois Child Welfare Agency Agrees to Stop Sending Children to Psychiatric Hospital Where Children Reported Abuse but Balks at Full Investigation

The state’s child welfare agency Friday agreed to stop sending children in its care to a Chicago psychiatric hospital where children have reported being sexually abused and assaulted, but said it would not seek the full independent investigation advocates had requested, setting up a possible court fight.

The decision by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services came one day after state lawmakers and the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois demanded the agency allow an outside expert to conduct a comprehensive investigation of Aurora Chicago Lakeshore Hospital on the city’s North Side.

More >> Illinois Child Welfare Agency Agrees to Stop Sending Children to Psychiatric Hospital Where Children Reported Abuse but Balks at Full Investigation

Former group home worker charged in teen's July drowning

A former group home worker who investigators say dropped Shaud Howell and two other teens off at Edgewater Beach the night Howell drowned has been indicted for involuntary manslaughter and two counts of endangering children.

According to investigators, 36-year-old Christina Coleman dropped the teens off at the beach, then left them there unsupervised. Lifeguards had already gone home for the night and the water was so rough that investigators say swimming was banned at the beach that day.

More >> Former group home worker charged in teen's July drowning

Kansas Shops For Second Opinion On Welfare Reform's Impact On Foster Care Load

A University of Kansas study linked tighter welfare rules to a growing foster care load.

The state agency overseeing those programs backed those same new rules. Now, it’s hired a research team to question the findings of the KU study.

More >> Kansas Shops For Second Opinion On Welfare Reform's Impact On Foster Care Load

Washington once again failing foster child with disabilities

Foster child M.D. had one constant in her turbulent childhood – a special bond with her sister. After the state sent M.D. to live with an abusive dad in Texas, the child was left a quadriplegic. On top of that, the state halted visits with her sister, which M.D's former foster parents say is "appalling."

More >> Washington once again failing foster child with disabilities

Trump encourages adoption: It ‘signals every child – born or unborn – is wanted and loved’

This week, President Donald Trump issued his second annual proclamation for National Adoption Month, hailing both adopting children and placing them for adoption as acts of love that enrich American society.

“Adoption is a blessing for all involved. It provides needed relief to birth parents, who may not, for whatever reason, be in a position to raise a child,” the president said Wednesday. “It fosters loving homes for children. It enables individuals to grow their families and share their love. And it fosters strong families, which are integral to ensuring strong communities and a resilient country.”

More >> Trump encourages adoption: It ‘signals every child – born or unborn – is wanted and loved’